DeLeone could be deemed exceptional not
only in his lengthy Ballet tenure, but in his music-filled life at
large. While we conversed recently in his Cincinnati Ballet office,
strains of piano accompaniment soared up through the walls from the
studio downstairs. How fitting!

“No!” DeLeone says, “We’re just getting going.” Time flies, and clearly DeLeone is having fun.

“We just do such a variety of things and I stay busy with all kinds of activities in addition to the Ballet,” he says.

He’s not kidding. DeLeone has just
celebrated his 30th year conducting the Middletown Symphony Orchestra.
Last year, he completed his 25-year tenure as music director of Illinois
Philharmonic Orchestra, where he’s now conductor laureate.

For all his conducting experience,
DeLeone began with a different path in mind: playing French horn in an
orchestra. He first came to town on scholarship to University of
Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music. Former CCM and Cincinnati
Symphony Orchestra Conductor Erich Kunzel later hired him as his first
assistant conductor, in addition to DeLeone’s horn and percussion
playing duties. DeLeone also plays drums with Jazz ensembles regularly.

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“At some point I suppose I need to slow down a
little bit, but until I’m in a sling, I’ll keep trying.”

“Hopefully Miss Muse floats down on my shoulder and says, ‘Carmon, here’s an idea for that blank piece of paper that’s in front of you,’ ” he says with a grin.

Sounds suitable for fairy tale fun —
subject matter with which he’s familiar. DeLeone’s best-known ballet
scores are the full-length Peter Pan and Princess and the Pea.
Both were created for Cincinnati Ballet in collaboration with
CEO/Artistic Director Victoria Morgan and have garnered widespread
demand and success nationally and beyond.

This weekend Maestro DeLeone will conduct the Cincinnati Ballet Orchestra as the Ballet performs Princess and the Pea alongside the Georges Bizet-scored The Steadfast Tin Soldier at the Aronoff Center.

DeLeone underscores the importance of
live music and Cincinnati Ballet’s good fortune to have it. He credits
the Ballet’s leadership, local citizens’ support and a much-lauded,
generous grant from the Nippert Foundation.

“I think sometimes we take (the Ballet’s
live music) for granted in Cincinnati … but many companies are forced to
perform to recorded music because they don’t have that luxury,” he
says.

Live music can also heighten performances in ways audiences might not expect.

“We have that give-and-take between the
stage and the live music,” DeLeone says. “If you’re playing a recording,
what happens onstage is very often mechanical, because nothing will
ever be different. The dancers have to be on that mark at that
particular time.”

It’s a subtle art, but by all accounts
DeLeone is a natural. Principal dancer Cervilio Amador says having
DeLeone in the pit gives him more confidence.

“As dancers, we need the tempos to fit
the choreography. Some like it slower, some like it faster. He tries to
work with the dancers,” Amador says. “And he also has such a cute face;
he just lights up. I love watching him and seeing him in the pit.”

For his part, DeLeone enjoys watching the dancers, even pushing them at times.

“What I’m usually watching for is not
necessarily always comfort of the dancers, but I want to make sure that
it looks as though they’re not labored in their movement,” he says. “In
some cases, it’s my job to sort of push the dancers to even maybe a
better performance than they thought they could give — to force a little
adrenaline to flow, and then maybe they can really do something extra
special that particular night.

“I don’t always get it right, but after
43 years, I’m usually pretty close. But that’s the challenge of the job;
that’s what I really like.”

Cincinnati Ballet presents Princess and the Pea and The Steadfast Tin Soldier at the Aronoff Center Friday-Sunday. Tickets: 513-621-5282 or cballet.org.